100 Years Ago: Eaton ice harvest good enough to last through summer; Weld mine produces largest lump of coal in Colorado

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100 years ago in the Greeley Tribune-Republican, for the second week in January 1914:

“Sturdy Prince,” a thoroughbred Belgian Hare rabbit, purchased as a pet by Dr. W.W. Harmer of Greeley, was shot and killed 75 miles from Greeley by a Weld County sheriff’s deputy. Sturdy Prince ran off shortly after Dr. Harmer brought him to his Greeley home nine years ago, and despite a reward, no one was able to find the rabbit. Deputy Hobart Frazier saw the rabbit from a long distance and made a good shot to kill it. Then he discovered the tag in its ear, showing he belonged to Dr. Harmer. No one knows how the rabbit managed to survive nine years, or how it got 75 miles from Greeley. Dr. Harmer praised the deputy for his shooting ability.

In an editorial, the Tribune-Republican takes the people of Greeley to task for not supporting job and population growth in the city. The newspaper said there are many new businesses and corporations that want to move to Greeley, but are discouraged by the bad attitude of the citizens. Said the newspaper: “The sooner the great majority of the people become reasonable, the sooner times will become good.”

The courts in Redwood City, Calif., proudly announced that they were allowing women to sit on the grand jury in that town for the first time. Now, weeks later, the town has been reprimanded for paying the men for sitting on the grand jury, but refusing to pay the women.

The Weld County Superintendent of Schools, A.B. Copeland, has announced that all eighth graders in Weld County will have their final grades at the end of the year increased by one percent for each month that they have perfect attendance.

The ice harvest is going on in Eaton. At Wood Lake, workers removed 18-inch blocks of ice from the lake, then took them to the ice house for storage. It is such a good year, that the ice harvest will be able to supply ice for every icebox in every home in Eaton through the summer.

Fifty thousand people died in Japan when the volcano Sakurashima erupted, spewing molten rock and white-hot boulders. It entirely destroyed the city of Kagoshima, which has a population of 70,000.

J.W. Lakin, one of the most popular teachers at Greeley High School, may have been attacked in the school, but no one is sure. Lakin was working alone in the laboratory at the school late one evening, when he said he heard someone open the door. He turned to see who it was, at the same time looking at his watch to see it was 6 p.m. “The next thing I remember,” Lakin said, “I was outside the school, my head was bleeding and it was 7 o’clock.” Blood was found in the laboratory of the school, but Lakin couldn’t recall anything that happened to him.

In New Jersey, a minister is opening a school for dancing, and plans to teach young people to dance without hugging each other.

Frank Deal of Keota said his cousin, John Deal, is visiting this week, and looking for checkers opponents. Although he is blind, John Deal has a reputation in his home state of Iowa of never losing a single checkers game. He has never lost a game, although he has been totally blind for 15 years.

At the location where they plan to build the new Post Office in downtown Greeley, the federal government has asked the contractors to dig down 18 feet and pull up two quarts of dirt. That dirt will be sealed in cans and then sent to Washington, D.C., to see if there are possible problems with the ground under the new building.

Miss Myrtle English, a former Tribune-Republican reporter was given the chance to ride in an aeroplane in Florida, where she now lives. It was actually an aero-hydroplane, which takes off and lands on the water. She flew across a large bay at an elevation of 50 to 60 feet. The aeroplane has a 100 horsepower engine, and carries the pilot and three passengers.

The largest lump of coal ever found in Colorado was brought to the surface of a Weld County mine, and it was transported to Greeley in a large wagon. The single lump of coal weighs 640 pounds.

“100 Years Ago” is taken from the original pages of The Greeley Tribune, The Weld County Republican, and, when they merged, The Greeley Tribune-Republican. Questions or comments may be sent to mpeters26@comcast.net.